Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult

If I could assign a single article to read in order to describe the political world as I view it, this commentary would be it. Written by a recently retired Republican staffer, he nails the pathology of both the Republicans and the Democrats without simplistically equating the two. His analysis is straightforward, his language direct, and his many and varied insights prove spot-on time and again...

You know that Social Security and Medicare are in jeopardy when even Democrats refer to them as entitlements. "Entitlement" has a negative sound in colloquial English: somebody who is "entitled" selfishly claims something he doesn't really deserve. Why not call them "earned benefits," which is what they are because we all contribute payroll taxes to fund them? That would never occur to the Democrats. Republicans don't make that mistake; they are relentlessly on message: it is never the "estate tax," it is the "death tax."

Did I mention I like this essay? I do, lot. Read it!
-- David M Gordon / The Deipnosophist